- Title: Germany has no choice but to pull out of Turkey airbase -Gabriel
- Date: 5th June 2017
- Summary: ANKARA, TURKEY (JUNE 5, 2017) (REUTERS) **** WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY **** TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER MEVLUT CAVUSOGLU SHAKING HANDS WITH GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER SIGMAR GABRIEL AND ANOTHER GERMAN OFFICIAL CAMERAMEN FILMING CAVUSOGLU AND GABRIEL SHAKING HANDS AND LEAVING
- Embargoed: 19th June 2017 13:33
- Keywords: Recep Tayyip Erdogan Incirlik Mevlut Cavusoglu Sigmar Gabriel Turkey
- Location: ANKARA, GERMANY
- City: ANKARA, GERMANY
- Country: Turkey
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA0016K01XL3
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Germany has no choice but to begin the process of pulling its forces out of Incirlik air force base in Turkey as the Turkish government will not allow all German lawmakers to visit troops there, Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Monday (June 5).
"My Turkish colleague has explained to me that, at the current situation, Turkey cannot approve visits of all lawmakers in Incirlik. That is for domestic political reasons," Gabriel told a news conference after meeting Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Ankara who had aimed to address the stand-off over Incirlik and other diplomatic tensions between the two NATO allies.
As its operations are approved by parliament, German lawmakers must be able to visit the Bundeswehr, Gabriel added.
"Turkey must understand that in this situation, we must transfer German soldiers out of Incirlik," he said. "In this situation, the Bundestag (parliament) will ask the government to find another location for the German soldiers in Incirlik."
Shortly after he spoke, sources in Prime Minister Binali Yildirim's office said the Turkish premier had cancelled a planned meeting with Gabriel, citing a busy work schedule.
Ties between Turkey and Germany deteriorated sharply in the run-up to Turkey's April 16 referendum that handed President Tayyip Erdogan stronger presidential powers.
Turkey was infuriated when Germany, citing security concerns, banned some Turkish politicians from addressing rallies of expatriate Turks before the referendum. Ankara responded by accusing Berlin of "Nazi-like" tactics.
Turkey has prevented German lawmakers from visiting the roughly 250 troops stationed at Incirlik as part of the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State, saying that Berlin needs to improve its attitude first.
It has also called on Berlin to extradite people who are seeking asylum in Germany and have suspected links to last July's attempted coup in Turkey.
Commenting on the case of German-Turkish journalist Deniz Yucel, whom Turkey arrested in February on a charge of spreading terrorist propaganda, Cavusoglu said that Yucel's case was a matter for the courts and that there was a trend in Europe for intelligence agencies to use journalists as agents. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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